Toothbrush holder



Sept. 1-5.l 192s.

S. H. THOMPSON" IOOTHBRUSH HOLDER FiledDBG. 1 0.. 19225v 6 ge es, Stateof California,

40 small inside diameter,

45 container es Passau sept. is, i925.

UNITED STATESl PATENT orFics.

@n THUIPION, or Los menus, onnronm 'roomnusn nonnina.

pimms ma number io, im. lenti in. crassa.

To all whom it may concern-f Be it known that I, SAMUEL H. THoMPsoN, acitizen of the United States, residin in the cit of Los Angeles andcounty ofV have invented a new and useful Improvement yin ToothbrushHolders, of which the following is a specification. I

This invention pertains to holders for sus- 10 pndingarticles withincontainers, and may app ed with particular advantage to tooth rushsterilizers and retainers. In view of its culiar adaptability to such ause, I have i lustrated and will describe m invention as embodied in atooth brush sterilizer, but this is not to be construed as a liniitationon the invention.

In United States Letters Patent Nos. 1,278,789 and 1,419,593 on toothbrush sterilizers and retainers, issued' to me on Se tember 10, 1918,and June 13, 1922,- respectively, I have illustrated different types ofbrush containers, and certain of the drawings of said patents have beenincorporated in the drawings of the present 'application in order toillustrate clearly the invention.

All sterilizers ofthe trated have the common c aptablility of the eneraltype illusaracteristic of inf a0 cludin tubular brush containers? thereordinarily ing corks or stop rs or hermeticall sealing the tube mout sthrough which the brushes are inserted and withdrawn, the Stoppersprotecting the brushes from atmospheric contamination and preventing orretarding the escape of .vapors from sterilizng agents which may becontained in or have access to the tube.

Containers of this type are of relatively usually bein only large tocomfortably a it a brush. herwise, their bulk would be objectionable.Due to this condition, it is rather difficult to withdraw a brush fromits Ipecially in case the brush has a comparative y short handle so itsend lies considerablybelowthe 'tube mouth. It is ractically impossibleto grasp the brush handle by inserting ones lingers in the tubesuflicient mouth, so the usual procedure is to tilt or turn the tube endfor end, a procedure which s'Anfi Atain instances,

'is not onl bothersome and timeconsuming,

but is lia le to result in the brush escaping the grasp ofthe user anddropping to the oor.

Furthermore, in lowering the brush into the container, it is necessaryto release ones grasp on the handle before the lower end of the rushcomes to rest on the tube bottom, and since such tubes are ordinarily ofglass or other frangible material, the unchecked drop of the brush oftenresults in breaking out the tube bottom.

n Therefore it is the principal object of the invention to provide meansfor removably attaching the brush handle to the cork :or stopper of thecontainer, whereb the brusn may be lowered into and withY rawn from thetube with minimum effort and with none of the inconveniences andundesirable results mentioned above. A single stopper may be used forsuspending brushes having handles of varying size, within certainlimits. 4

The brush handle is held against longitudinal movement within the tube,thereby eliminating the danger of the brush intermittently impactingwiththe bottom of the tube in the event the sterilizer is being transported.

Furthermore b the use of my device it is possible to hold the brush soits bristles are suspended above the tube bottom, and in cerheld out ofcontact with or submergence in a disinfecting agent contained within thetube.

A more. complete understanding of my invention will be had from thefollowing detailed description, reference bein made therein to theaccompanying drawings, in which Fi re 1 is a vertical section of a toothbrus sterilizer and retainer, showing my improved holder in connectiontherewith.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through 'the holder showing a fragment of abrush handle suspended thereby.

Fig. 3 is a transverse section on line 3 3 of rigure 2.

Fig. 4 is an elevation, artly in broken awiy section, of a modifie formof holder; an

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rig. t is l container.

First I will briefly describe the steril'izer illustrated in Figure 1.The brush container is in the form of a tube 10, preferably of glass forsanitary reasons, the tube bottom 11 being aperturedat 12 to admit.vapors from a disinfectin or sterilizing fluid contained in the tubu arreceptacle 14.

Annular flange 15 on tube 1 0 provides means for suspending thecontainer within tube 14. The under side of thel flange engages a washer16 which is supported b y the top edge of tube 14. A screw cap 17 isthreaded on tube 14 and serves to firml retain the two tubes inassembly, and wit washer 16 provides a tight 'oint for preventing theescape of vapors rom between the tubes. A bracket 9 provides convenientmeans for suspending the sterilizer from a wall hook or within acabinet.

A removable stopper or cork, generally indicated at 18, is adapted toclose the mouth of tube 10 for preventing or retarding the escape ofsterilizing vapors therefrom, and to protect the brush within the'container from atmospheric contamination.

Preferably, thou h not necessarily, body member 19 and kno or handle20.0f stopper 18 are integral and made of rubber or like material havinga desirable degree of ilexibility and resiliency.

Body member 19 tapers downwardly, as is usual with Stoppers, and isprovided with a central, downwardly o enin recess 21 through the mouth22 of w ich t e end 23 of tooth brush handle 24 is ada ted to ass.Recess 21 may be of circular, o long, el i tical or other cross section,although the el ip-A tical contour illustrated in Figure 3 ispreferable. When the stopper is designed to hold a tooth brush having ahandle of a given size the recess, or mouth, thereof, is of slightlyless lateral extent than the width of the handle. Then when the handleend is thrust into the recess, the recess mouth and defining walls firstyield to allow such insertion and then, due to the resilienc o"f thebody member, frictionally gras an retain the handle so brush 25 may elifted bodily with the stopper and then lowered into the container as inFigure 1. As the stopper is thrust downwardly into the tube 10, thewedge action between the tube and the tager of body 19 serves to thrustthe recess efining w ls more firmly against the brush handle, thuseliminating any likelihood of the brush handle being loosened from thestopper, even though shaken or jarred. In certain of the appendedclaims,

1,5ss,e4e

handle 25 is referred to as the suspension member for brush.

It is obvious 'that when the stopper is ulled from the container, thebrush is ifted with it, andafter the brush is fully withdrawn from tube10, the stopper or holder may be slipped off the handle 24, so saidholder will not interfere with the users hand while mani ulating thebrush.

By this meth of suspension, I not only provide means for the easyinsertion and withdrawal of the brush with respect to the tube, but, byholding the fully inserted brush from longitudinal movement with res eetto the tube, I eliminate the danger of tlie tube bottom being broken outby repeated impact of the bristle end of the brush therewith duringtransportation of the container, The holder also provides means forretaining brush bristles 26 a predetermined distance fi'om the tubebottom and above the fluid level in receptacle 14.

. As it is desirable that the stopper fit the handles of all brushesirrespective of their size, within reasonable limits, I provide means onbody member 19 for engaging brush handles which may be too small to befrictionally retained by the recess mouth or defining walls. Such meansconsists of flexible and resilient lugs 27, which may or may not beintegral with body member 18 extending inwardl from op osite sides ofrecess 21. When t e end of t e tooth brush handle is thrust into recess21, these lugs yield to allow the passage of said end therebetween, theends of the lugs preferably being spaced vapart slightly, whereby theymore readily allow such passage. As soon as aperture 28, usuallyprovided in every brush handle, registers with lugs 27, these lugsspring into the -aperture as shown in Figure 2. The lugs aresufficiently stiff to bear the-weight of the brush without yieldinfrdownwardly to such an extent as would re ease'thehandle from properengagement and coaction therewith, and vet the lugs are suflicientlyflexible to enable the user to easil connect and disconnect holder andbrus i.

When the brush is lowered into the container, the inwardly directedpressure on bod 19, which pressure is created by the we( ge actionbetween the taper of the body and the tube mouth, forces thelugsmoreclosely together, reducing the chance of the accidental separation ofthe brush from its holder. In certain instances, I may utilize but asingle holding lug extending'such a distance towards the oppositedefining wall of the recess'that vthe space between said wall and theend of the lug is less than the thickness of thebrush handle.

In Figure 5 I have shown a type of sterilizer wherein a plurality ofindividual brush containers 10 are suspended from the with when my brushsupporting device is used. Of'course, the double tube structure ofFigure 1 may be substituted for the single tubes of Figure 5, the twoforms being shown merely to illustrate applications of the invention todifferent types of sterilizer.

Stop er 18 may be similar to stoppers 18, or t ey may be made inaccordance with the showing of Figure 4, where the ornamental knob 20 isof porcelain or like material and cemented or otherwise suitablyattached to body member 19. In the drawings I have illustrated theattaching means in the form of interlocking flanges 33 and 34 on members19 and tap 35 respectively. The description of bodyfmember 19, recess21, lugs 27, and the coactionof these elements with the handle of brush25, applies also to body member 19, recess 2l, lugs 27 and the coactionof these elements with t-he handle of brush 25, and therefore need notbe re eated.

While have illustrated and described specific embodiments of myinvention, I do not wish to be limited to, except for such limitationsas the appended claims may import.

I claim:

1. In a holder for suspending articles within an apertured container, astopper for the aperture, said stopper comprising a body member ofresilient material and having a downwardly opening recess, the normalwall to wall extent of the recess being less than a cross sectiondimension of a suspension member on the article; the stopper beingadapted to yield outwardly to admit said suspension member to therecess, and then, by reason of the body resiliency, to frictiqnallyengage said suspension member.

2. In a holder for suspending articles within an apertured container, astopper for the aperture, said stopper including a downwardly taperingbody member of resilient material and adapted to enter the aperture,there being a downwardly opening recess in the body member, the recessnormally being smaller in cross section than the cross section of asuspension member on the ar ticle, and the recess defining` walls beingadaptedl to yield outwardly to admit said suspension member to therecess when the stopper is removed from the container aperture, and thento coact with the suspensionv member in a manner whereby the suspensionmember is frictionally retained in the'recess; the taper of the bodymember being adapted to coact with the container in amanner to bodymember, and oppositely disposed, resilient and flexible lugs on the bodymember adapted to enter the aperture in a manner to removably hold thesuspension member from separative movement with respect to the bodymember.

4. In a holder for suspending an article having anapertured suspensionmember, a body member having a downwardly o ening recess to receive thesuspension memrber, and resilient and ilexible lugs on the body memberand extendingvinto the recess fromA opposite sides thereof, said lugsbeing adapted to enter the aperture in a manner to removably hold thesuspension member from separatlve movement with respect to the bodymember.

5. In a holder for suspending an/ article having an apertured suspensionmember, a body member of resilient material and having a downwardly oening recess to receive the suspension mem r, and a resilient andflexible lug integral with the body member and extending into therecess, said lug being adapted to enter the apert'ure in a manner toremovably hold the suspension member from separative movement withrespect to the body member.

6. In a holderi for suspending an article having an apertured suspensionmember, a body member of resilient material and havinga downwardlyopening recess to receive the suspension member and resilient andflexible lugs on the body member vand extendin into the recess fromopposite sides thereof, said lugs being adapted to enter the aperture ina manner to removably hold the suspension member from se arativemovement with respect'to the bo y member.

7. In a holder for suspending articles within an apertured container, astopper for the aperture, wardly tapering body member o resilientmaterlal and adapted to enter the aperture, and oppositely dlsposed,resilient and ilexible lugs on the body member adapted to coact with thearticle in a manner to hold it from separative movement with respect tothe stopper; the taper of the body member being adapted to coact withthe container in a manner to press said lugs more closely together.

8. In a holder for suspendingy a tooth brush within a tubular containerwhich is open at its top, a stopper for tube opening,

said stopper includin a downsaid stopper including a body member`hevhandle from generative movement with `re- 1 ing a downwardl openingrecess to' recelve speet to the stopper.

the apertured en of the brush handle, resl- In witness that I claim thefore on 1,10 ient and flexible lugs on the body member have hereuntosubscribed my name t is 2 th and extending into the recess from opposlteday of November 1923.

sides thereof and adapted "to enter the eperture in the handle in amanner to hold the SAMUEL H. THOMPSON.

